Leviticus 4-7; Hebrews 3

Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. This is how you are to deal with those who sin unintentionally by doing anything that violates one of the Lord’s commands.” (Leviticus 4:1, NLT)

I read through the Lord’s instructions to Moses in Leviticus 4-7. They are thorough. They are lengthy. So when I get to Hebrews 3 and the mention of Moses in comparison to Jesus, the connection is fresh.

And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. ² For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire house.

³ But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. ⁴ For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵ Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. ⁶ But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. (Hebrews 3:106, NLT)

The scriptures go further to warn against a hardening of the heart against God.

⁷ That is why the Holy Spirit says,

“Today when you hear his voice,
⁸     don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled,
    when they tested me in the wilderness.
⁹ There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
¹⁰ So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
¹¹ So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

¹² Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. ¹³ You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. (Hebrews 3:7-13, NLT)

It caused me to think on things that would harden my heart in any event–and can I keep a hardening heart in one area of my life from hardening against God?

I’m so thankful for Jesus, who took my sins, washed me clean with his sacrifice. I can lay them down before him, the intentional and unintentional and tangled mess, and he still calls me loved. He still calls me daughter. He still calls me forgiven. He is my high priest and my hope.

Courtney (66books365)

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Ex. 4; Luke 7; Job 21; I Cor. 8

Moses was concerned, doubtful, worried–what if they don’t believe him? What if he got tongue tied? Can’t you send someone else?

But it’s God who empowers. It’s God who changes hearts.

He can turn a staph into a snake, and water into blood. He can take a leader’s heart and make it hard.

Later, these signs would not immediately sway a Pharaoh’s hardened heart, but in this chapter, it’s love that brings about worship.

²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together. ³⁰ Aaron told them everything the Lord had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. ³¹ Then the people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. Exodus 4:31 NLT, emphasis mine.

In Luke, Jesus has been healing and raising the dead, and John asks, “Are you the one?”

But it’s the woman bent over the Lord’s feet, pouring out perfume and tears that underscores: it’s love that brings about worship. He knew her many sins and didn’t turn away from her. In fact, he forgave her.

Paul tells in 1 Corinthians 8:1B: It is love that strengthens the church.

The prettiest words, the best arguments, the fanciest decorations, the strongest resistance–no, no–exclusion, judgment, grudge, spite–matching T-shirts, Facebook pages, Tweets in 140 characters or less–they don’t touch love. I can’t Photoshop it. I can’t Pin it. I can’t sell it. I can only give it away.

It is the heart’s hearing of concern and the seeing of someone’s misery. It is the presence in a sinful life repented, and a forgiveness of wrongs. Oh, I can come up with any number of reasons and excuses to deny it and dispute it (it’s too hard;  it’s complicated; do you know what they did; I don’t even like them)–but the barest essence of a life lived in faith is love.

What would your relationships be like if you treated every individual as a potential friend? This comes from Gary Chapman’s book Love as a Way of Life. I think of hurtful relationships, and can’t love shine there? God gives me opportunity to forgive and to love, and I can turn away and say, “Can’t you send someone else?” Like he used Aaron as Moses’ spokesman, he can use someone else for his glory.

But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. Luke 7:35 NLT.

Lord, empower me, please, to serve you in the places you put me. Love draws people to you, to worship you. I don’t want to stand in the way of anyone getting to worship you–as my withholding of love or forgiveness is not a witness of my faith, but rather of my heart.

Courtney (66books365)